With continuing advancements in the medical arts, it is possible to detect the onset of many serious conditions long before they become life-threatening. In addition, the behavior of certain individuals may be used to predict certain conditions to which they may be susceptible. However, many people are reluctant to undertake preventative treatments or early detection tests for a variety of reasons, such as fear of diagnosis, the cost of the treatment, the unpleasantness associated with certain tests, lack of time to seek treatment or an indifference to possible future health problems.
Nonetheless, it would be beneficial to insurers, primary health care providers and individuals if more people would adopt such preventative treatment on a more regular basis. By undergoing preventative treatment, a customer may avoid more serious health problems in the future. This, in turn, may decrease future costs to insurers, who would have to cover the typically expensive treatments associated with serious diseases.
Many insurers now offer to pay for the cost of preventative treatments undertaken by their insureds. Examples of preventative treatments may include blood pressure screenings, blood tests, cancer screenings, receiving a test or a diagnosis, teeth-cleaning, mammograms, pap smear tests, sigmoidoscopies, colonoscopies, immunizations, psychiatric examinations, psychological examinations, dental examinations and physical examinations. However, this is often insufficient to encourage reluctant people to adopt such preventative treatments, since the cost of the treatment is only one factor which discourages people from seeking treatment.
Insurance companies also typically offer lower premiums to people who adopt a healthy lifestyle, e.g. those who regularly visit a gym, maintain a proper diet, refrain from cigarette smoking or dangerous activities, etc. However, a discount in health insurance premiums only rewards those inclined to practice a healthy lifestyle in the first place and does little to motivate others to adopt such healthy practices.
There also exist many corporate wellness programs by which companies seek to encourage employees to adopt healthier lifestyles by providing rebates on gym memberships, lower premiums on health insurance, and the like. Again, however, such programs typically reward only those who are pre-disposed to healthy lifestyles and do not provide enough incentive to motivate others to adopt such practices.
Accordingly, there is a need for a method and apparatus for encouraging the undertaking of preventative treatments which addresses certain problems in existing technologies.